A Labor of Love? Confessions of a First-Year Conference Staff Member

My name is Lizzy Seymour and I am a first-year staffer on the core planning team for the National Conference on Volunteering and Service. I started in April of this year – just two short months before the big 2011 event – when planning was complete and we were in full execution mode. Some of you who attended last year’s Conference in New Orleans may recognize me as I was stationed at the registration desks from open to close. My job was to ensure that all of our attendees had a smooth and enjoyable onsite registration experience and welcome you to the world’s greatest Conference on volunteering and service!

We jumped immediately into planning for 2012 after a successful 2011 Conference. Our goal for the fall season was to execute a request for proposals for a new registration system. We were searching for a solution that could support our many registration pathways for volunteers, Points of Light members, National Service members and programs, scholarship applicants, vendors, media, etc., etc.! In years past, we had cobbled our main registration system together with other low-cost options to just … make it work. But I was determined to find a solution that would work for us and be an easy experience for our attendees.

We found a new registration system and set out to build all of the pathways I just mentioned – no small task. And did I mention that my supervisor was on maternity leave October through mid January?! And, oh, don’t forget about Thanksgiving, the week our office was closed over Christmas, and that little day of service called Martin Luther King Jr., Day. But, I am happy to report that with a little love, a ton of hard work and a lot of determination, we successfully launched our new registration system!

If you’ve registered with our Conference before, you will immediately notice that the new system is simpler to navigate, it’s pretty and we have lots of great customer service staff standing by if you do need assistance. Registration for general conference attendance is now open and, in March, we will launch our itinerary builder application allowing registrants to add individual workshops, plenaries, super sessions, service projects, sessions with a fee, etc.

One thing I love about working for Points of Light is the opportunity to work on just about any kind of project. Whether your background is event planning, operations or graphic design, our leaders have the confidence to give us roles (way) outside of our skill sets and nurture in us creativity, perseverance and leadership. After birthing the registration system “baby,” I now know I can take on anything!

My Turning Point. What’s Yours?

Today’s post comes from Delores Morton, Vice President of HandsOn University who provides strategic direction and vision for the National Conference on Volunteering and Service.

Our Conference happens once a year. But you may not realize that we work year round on the strategy, programming, speaker procurement, venues, logistics and everything else, and our planning team members have other projects and events that run concurrent with Conference work. Sometimes it’s hard not to look at the planning documents from the previous year and simply change “2011” to “2012,” or “New Orleans” to “Chicago.” As tempting as it might be to do so, it’s not good enough for our attendees or our Conference.

As the leader in service sector innovation, we strive to accelerate progress by convening and connecting the brightest and most cutting-edge civic entrepreneurs for change. Our Conference always has been and always will be a don’t-miss experience for social entrepreneurs to exchange ideas about what’s working, and to generate new ideas to create a brighter path for the future.

With the launch of Conference registration, we’ve revealed our new theme, “Turning Point,” which we think perfectly embodies our approach in 2012. It’s a decisive year for the service sector and the world; an election year when economic instability is putting even more pressure on government, business and nonprofits; and a year that will determine the future of national service. It’s time to teach people how they can harness their power to create enduring change. It’s time for “turning points” in advocacy, policy and service.

My personal turning point was a long time in the making. I am the oldest of six children born to a preacher’s family in a small southern Louisiana town. With half a dozen of us, my siblings and I made an instant choir and a traveling art show. My younger brother David brought home strays – pets, people, anyone who needed a little extra care. We didn’t call this “volunteering,” and “service” was where we went every Sunday with Daddy standing at the front of the congregation. These activities didn’t have a name – it was simply the way we lived.

Until I became a single mother my senior year in college, I had big plans to become a lawyer or a broadcast journalist. But bringing a sweet, tiny, precious little girl into the world made me re-evaluate my life and the way I wanted to raise my Valerie. I didn’t want to depend on my parents or the system for support. I vowed to make my own way and to raise my girl with the same character-building activities with which I was raised.

I became an AmeriCorps working for the Saint Mary Community Action Agency to raise funds for a community housing project. The first step was a mapping activity to understand the current state of housing in the rural, 10-parish community that Saint Mary’s served. My turning point came on the day that I visited an old sugar cane plantation that had turned into a share cropping community and later housing for poor families. On this beautiful old farm lived a lively group of hard-working, welcoming, weathered individuals. But their living conditions were horrible with semi-permanent structures and barely any protection from wind and rain. Upon seeing that level of poverty in my own little community, I knew that my job as an AmeriCorps was no longer a transition for me, that I had to make a difference for me, for my daughter, for my little hometown and for my world.

It’s 17 years later and I am proud to work on the world’s largest Conference on volunteering and service. I volunteer at my children’s schools and my church, I serve on the board of directors for an organization that makes a direct impact on my community, I teach and mentor, and I am constantly inspired and re-energized to do more and better work by the amazing people around me.

That’s the story of my turning point. What’s yours?

Look Ahead to 2012

Building on the excitement and momentum in New Orleans, it was announced that the

2012 conference will be held in Chicago.

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn sent a warm welcome to share his city’s excitement in playing host for the conference.

“By working together to serve others, we can overcome our nation’s most difficult obstacles. In Illinois, we have taken an innovative approach to addressing challenges faced nationwide, most recently by passing an historic education reform measure,” said Gov. Quinn. “We look forward to welcoming the National Conference on Volunteering and Service, so that we may continue working together to explore solutions to our nation’s toughest challenges.”

The 2012 National Conference on Volunteering and Service is scheduled for

June 18 to 20

.

It will provide opportunities to learn, connect and be inspired through a range of plenary sessions, workshops, special events, service projects and more.

We hope to see you all in the Windy City!

Closing Session Celebrates Service, Passion

We kicked-off the 2011 conference in style, and we left New Orleans with the same energy and passion.

Attendees enjoyed music from R&B legend Percy Sledge and a celebration of truly inspiring Champions of Service.

Luminaries including the “Daily Show’s” British Correspondent John Oliver, New Orleans chef John Besh, CNBC’s Nicole Lapin and First Lady of New Orleans Cheryl Landrieu presented awards to volunteers from across the country.

CNCS Board Chair Mark Gearan awarded the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll to six universities for outstanding civic engagement.

Points of Light Institute CEO Michelle Nunn and acting CNCS CEO Robert Velasco, II said good-bye to the Big Easy and set the course for the future.

We learned about the volunteer sector’s plan for the 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance, where Points of Light’s HandsOn Network, MyGoodDeed, CNCS and dozens of other organizations will work together to create the single-largest expression of service in history.

Awards

Outstanding volunteers, institutions and corporations were honored at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service for their commitment to service and civic engagement.

Congratulations to the following award winners:

Corporate Engagement Awards of Excellence

▪▪ Cisco

▪▪ IBM

▪▪ McKesson

Corporate Volunteer Council Awards

▪▪ The Corporate Volunteer Council of Central New Mexico

▪▪ Trident United Way’s Corporate Volunteer Council

President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll

▪▪ Augsburg College

▪▪ Rollins College

▪▪ San Francisco State University

▪▪ Loyola University Chicago

▪▪ St. Mary’s University

▪▪ California State University Monterey Bay

2011 Eli Segal Award

▪▪ Hope Grows Farm

2011 Service Impact Award

▪▪ Experience Corps

▪▪ Juliana Chosana Ko

▪▪ The Cesar Chavez Foundation – Si Se Puede Learning Center

The George W. Romney Excellence Award 2011

▪▪ Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership of Marin

2011 Champion of Inspiration Award

▪▪ generationOn Youth Advisory Council

▪▪ Chip Chappelle

▪▪ HandsOn Tokyo

▪▪ Natalie Snider

▪▪ Brendon Barclay

▪▪ Camo Quilt Project

2011 Service Impact Award

▪▪ The Red Cross Ready! Tennessee Rural Initiative

▪▪ Norman Moeller Missoula Aging Services RSVP

▪▪ Resource Youthbuild Burlington, Vt.

▪▪ Earl Millet, Jr. Civic Works

▪▪ Grace Hill Settlement House AmeriCorps Ranger Project

▪▪ RSVP Members at VFW Post 1739, Belleville, Il.

Paying it Forward: New Orleans Style

Just

before NCVS kicked off, Mayor Mitch Landrieu joined conference officials to “send-off” a team of locals to Joplin, Mo.

Led by Greg Reggio and the Taste Buds, a local culinary company, and under the heading of “Three Chefs: One Mission,” the group set off to aid the victims of the devastating tornado that took the lives of 138 people and destroyed almost 40 percent of the city.

Among the conference officials joining Mayor Landrieu were Michelle Nunn, CEO of Points of Light Institute, and director of AmeriCorps John Gomperts.

The contingent, including a caravan of refrigerated trucks, trailers, cooking equipment, tents, generators, buses and a music stage, left from the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans and provided more than 1,000 people with fresh Louisiana seafood.

“These New Orleanians are true champions of service,” said Mayor Landrieu. “We know what the good people of Joplin are facing; we’ve been where they are.”

The team, including restaurant partners from the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, musician Amanda Shaw and volunteers, left for Joplin in the spirit of Paying it Forward.